The country of New Zealand was named after the province Zeeland in the Netherlands and the island of Tasman was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who discovered and mapped out most of New Zealand, Australia and Tasman.

The country of Australia was also called New Holland. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. Willem Jansz. sailed on the ship Duyfken. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but they made no attempt at settlement.